


The moth and the rat

by Escritora2Aliasfox



Category: Crimson Peak (2015)
Genre: Animals, Attempt at Humor, Ghosts, Incest (kept to a minimun), Madness, toxic and hate relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-09
Updated: 2018-01-12
Packaged: 2018-10-01 13:51:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10191344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Escritora2Aliasfox/pseuds/Escritora2Aliasfox
Summary: When Edith marries Thomas and moves to live with his sister things get difficult...so she calls for backup.Lucky for her, Cousin Mary the crazy from Alaska comes to the rescue.





	1. Introductions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Little after edith arrives at the house, Cousin Mary the crazy from Alaska enters the scene.

Edith walked upstairs to find Thomas in his little lab, restoring toys.  
If he would just let go if this house (and his sister) she knew he could be a very happy toymaker.

He looked at her with his tired eyes, and felt a bit more alive when she smiled.  
…and she smiled brightly.

“what?” he asked. She didn’t know how to tell.  
“I have something for you. But it is meant to be a surprise… I just hope you will like it”  
He tilted his head. His new wife had the capacity of bringing him brad new feelings he was not used to handle.  
He played the part of the playfull, charming husband.

Drawing her to sit her on his lap. He carassed he long, blond hair and kissed her temple.

“please, don’t keep me guessing”  
“do you trust in me?”  
“Of course”  
“then don’t mind for a little visit”

…

A large, white car pulled by five black horses stopped in front of the door.

Thomas seemed to hold his urge to run away. Lucile tried to calculate how to get rid of this new intruder… Edith was beaming.

She walked up to the lady in blue who came out of the car and embraced her like a long lost friend.

“Thomas, Lucy, this is my cousin Marie!”  
Marie smiled brigthly and walked up to them, ofering a hand.  
Thomas held his mask, but was so shocked he stretched it like she was a man, instead of kissing it.

Lucille could not velieve she had another woman (another woman!) in her house.

“Welcome” she smiled.

Edith continued the introductions. “I told her abouth the situation, and she has come all the way from Alaska to help us”  
“Alaska” Thomas spoke throu terror, and a mask.

“yes, my family was of the lucky ones who got there first and found gold. I do believe i can help you”  
“we have money” Lucy jumped into conversation with her nicest smile and her coldest voice (with was a whole lot of cold) “we don’t need charity.  
“Oh, but i don’t come here just for the money! I have wonderfull ideas to save your house… in the space of one year”

This words struck the two sibilings so hard they could not react, when Marie came happily throu the door, with her cousin troting while telling her the many things she had been throu… nor when Marie’s two huge dogs jumped off the carriage and into the house.

“This is your fault you know” Lucile wispered to his brother, while they pretended to watch over the men emptitying the car “you had to choose someone without family and you got a wimp over her”

“I am terribly sorry i could not make it here on time for the funeral… you know i loved your father very much!”  
“Yes, he colected your cards”  
“i miss him! by the time the news of his death reached me, you had already left! The very least thing i could do is come for a visit”

In that moment, Lucille was entering, her brother not far behind.  
That dreadfull little dog was coming next to Edith to sniff at the newcomer.

“Oh! You got a dog!” Edith smiled.  
“He was lost nearby… you loved dogs right?”  
“well yes, we have many dogs in Alaska…” she was kneeling to pet the little thing.  
“…but of course they are not common pets. Our dogs work for us. We use them. I like to keep my faourites close, even when they are no longer working”

She wistled and the two wolf and bear like animals came running.  
One was big, the other was huge. They looked like they were gonna eat the little hairball when Marie made a gesture snapping her fingers. “sit!” and they ovidently sat.

They looked like generals. Edith was shocked. She had never been to Alaska. She had read many books and letters, but she had never seen trained dogs in action.

Marie carassed her little pet and then one by one her’s.

“this smaller one is Lobo” and turned to the other, the big mut “and this is Ursa. She’s grumpy, but nice. Lobo, on the other hand…”

Lucille refused to have anymore of this shit, and she walked away into the kitchen to prepare some poisoned milk.

Lobo was young and wanted to play with the petit dog, but he had been told to restrain himself, becouse he was a too rude. Ursa was easygoing. When told not to mess with the runt, she just ignored him.

Suddenly, two plates of milk were offered to them. Lobo drank his and drank it all happily. Ursa gave it a sniff, and lied down on the floor.  
She didn’t like that milk. The floor was cold and snowy. She liked the floor.

“I see it was true, what Edith told me on her letters. The house is sinking! …and you don’t even have a ceiling”  
“Yes. it was built over a weak ground, and now it sinks without remedy…”  
“We will see that”  
“Waht”  
“The ceiling, however, is a much easier fix, ho come you just let it be?”  
“what did you…?” Edith interrupted her without noticing, eager to find solutions.  
“You see, Thoma’s first priority was to make money out of the land, in hopes to save all of the house…”  
“I understand, but we can no longer hope for the future… is time to jump into action right now!”

Thomas looked at the extranger from a safe distance. She spoke kind of like a man. Was she truly family of Edith? She was more like her father…

“You said!!” Lucille nearly shouted and them all turned to look at her. Even Ursa lifted an ear. “…what do you pretend to do to help with the house then?”

Marie smiled. “Desperate matters call for desperate solutions. I have a plan so crazy, it just might work” (she said this so with such conviction it didn’t sound cliche coming from her) Thomas had never been told something like that. Usually it was him who’s stupid plans were rejected.

Marie Got out a few planes, three maps, and some black and white photos.

“This cot was placed by the river, by some of the first coloners. It was big, and it had some stone on it… there was an old lady and little children on it. But the river was slowly taking over the border, and the house was about to crumble into the water…”  
“So they had to move” Muttered Thomas.  
“Or perish” spit Lucile “You have to be strong to survive”  
“Or…” marie continued “try something new” She pointed at the planes of the house. They were directed to the support and its principal points of charge…  
“The owner of the lands had money, and experience working, and he was very attached to the house. So he hired a constructor”  
“They buildt a new house, just like the old one?”  
“No. They dug under the house, pulled through metal beams, secured it, and lifted the whole thing…” she showed photos. A thick, large clue of cows was puling of a house, seated in a base with many wheels.  
“and dragged it across the land, onto its new spot. Where now lives the family, in the same house”

A thick silence seated among them.

“That is absurd. No one can pull a house!”  
“They built rails and prepared the ground. Calculated the weight and used poles…”  
“But it should be too unestable for… for moving it!”  
“well, it was not easy, and it took some trial and eror, but they managed”

A beat

“… you are planing to move our entire mansion to some other place?”  
“You are cazy” licille spat with all the venom she had.  
Marie didn’t take it personal. “Not… quite. See, moving a cot is one thing. This is only the first case, i have more examples, and some came out easily and perfectly fine… but this mansion is too big and this is your land after all”  
“So what did you think you where doing?”  
“… we are not going to move it. We are just going to stop it from sinking”

Lucille was outraged, but she could never show, so she just stood still. Thomas was confused, but curious.

“Show them the planes” said Edith, eager. She semed to believe in this.  
“I have soething better” Marie said. She put the planes on the table, but before explaining anything, she took out of her hand bag a few instruments.

Thomas contempled them like they where some new misterious toy

Marie walked up to the fire and took a thick, short, nearly square piece of wood, placing it on the table. She then got out of her purse a toycastle crafted in wood.

“Lets say this is the house” she placed it over the block “and this is the mountain. Your house is sinking into the mountain. Correct?”

Thomas nodded.

“Now think we build four pillars here…” she placed the tools wich looked like thick screwers) on each side of the mountain “and we put a base under the house”

She placed a piece of square wood there. “now look at this”  
Marie turned the keys on each of the four pilars on the side of the mountain. They grew taller, and they pushed up the wooden base… lifting the castle of the montain.

She kept stretching the four pillars until the miny castle was standing two centimeters over the piece of wood, suported only on the pillars.

“…you plan to lif our house, from the clay it’s sinking in”  
“yes”  
“The house can not stand only on pilars. Its to unestable. Its meant to stay on ground”  
“The idea is not to lif the house over the groud, but to stop it from sinking. We may not even need to lif it! As soon as the pillars are built on steady rock, and the house is supported on them, it will just stop sinking, and that would be enough. It would still be stuck on the hill, and the clay around and uder it will hold it stable. The Pillars are just the support to hold it still”

Lucille was goind to speak, but her brother did first.  
“So, what would you use to hold the house? A wooden plank won’t do”  
“you give the planes of the house. We study its principal points of support, he reinforce the weak zones. Then, we dig under them, and place metal bars. Many. As many as needed. And those, we secure to the pillars.

Edith could see the wheels turning inside Thomas’s head. He liked the plan. He didn’t trust this extranger, but he liked the plan.  
Lucille saw it too, and she didn’t like it. She didn’t like this extranger, nor nothing that came out of her.

“And what when the pillars themselves start sinking?”  
“we will build them on nearby rocks, wich we will know for sure are steady”  
“What if there are none around?”  
“We bould them over other pillars, wich will stend as fas as needed”  
“we don’t have that much money!”  
“I have. And i am willing to prove myself using it for a good cause, like saveing this treasure of a house you have here”

Lucille was about to explode. Thomas saw it coming, and spoke calmly.  
“Even if you could manage, we could not… well, pay you back”

She smiled. “There’s no need. See, we are family now, and we have to help each other. I am happy to share, and then go back to my home knowing that you are fine here. bedsides, once the house is fixed, you can prosper, and we can be bushiness partners! We could make an epire!”

Thomas was too overwelmed to even remember this was a stupid, risky plan, wich was making his sister boil. Lucille banged her fists on the table.

“I will have my house sink before leting you touch it!” 

The three looked at her. She had reached her breaking poin in frontof them all.  
Silence gave her a moment to come down from the high of fury.

“It is going to sink anyways” marie spoke with the softest, most innocent voice she had  
(it sounded like her cousin’s) “I just offer a solution”  
“but… you can’t. i…”

Edith, the writer, spoke softly, in defense of her cousin. She carassed Lucille’s hand.

“You said you have to be strong, to survive. Wouldn’t you like to be strong? To rise the house and save it from sinking?”

Lucille turned away and walked upstairs very fast, without talking. She desappeared from view and they heared a blam.

They stood in silence. Until Marie spoke.  
“I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to impose” Tomas made a calm gesture with his head.  
“I will talk to her”


	2. First hits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy starts using the poison, Marie starts making changes in the house, and Lucy realices with horror it was not enough poison

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The names and number of dogs has been edited, as there was a little confusion with them:
> 
> -Edith has a runt hairball that appeared out of nowhere and has no name (jet)  
> -Marie came with two big dogs: a red newfoundland named Ursa and a grey husky named Lobo
> 
> In total, there's three muts

Lucyle apologiced hours later as nicely as she was capable of. That is, fake, but somehow convincing.

People were willing to follow you to hell if you just asked propperly.

She walked Marie to her room, making sure it was the coldest in the entire mansion.

“There is no remedy” she said, casually “the en…”  
“We will see about that” Marie smiled taking the place in with interest, and an actual, mischevous smile wile looking at the windows.  
“The entire house is dying oh so slowly. This room is the coldest, but all the others are either taken or inhabitable in some other way”  
“Oh, don’t worry for the cold, it will feel like home”

Marie opened the closet and contempled the square space, thinking if there was mold behind the paper and would it damage her clotes?

Behind her, Lucyle had a nervious attack in silence and limited herself to run out of the room, thinking if it would be suspicious if she killed her with just one overdose of poison.

The next day, Lucyle, her brother and Edith had breakfast alone.  
Lucyle was fantasicing with the different reasons why Marie hadn’t join them, when she walked in not from the stairs, but from the back door, with one of her huge dogs, and Edith’s miniature one.

“Marie!” Edit’s whole day was already brightened with her presence “When did you leave? I didn’t even hear you…”  
“Oh, I was just so excited with the new place and the project and everything… I coul barely sleep! So I left early for a walk with the boys… you don’t mind it right? The exercice with mine will do him well”  
“Of course!”

Lucyle, meanwhile, sorbed her tea wile staring at Ursa. The great, red dog was sniffing the air around her, and soon, growling.

“Your mut is... bothering me”  
“oh, you must forgive her. See, Lobo was sick this morning. Too much milk. These animals are not used to such food”

Lucyle chuckled “So much for strong working animals”  
“Lobo is still young and learning. Ursa if the dificult one. She would wrestle a bear for her mistress. Right, baby?”

The terranova didn’t lift her burning eyes from Lucyle.  
“how charming”  
She didn’t stop staring either.

After the breakfast, Thomas went upstairs for “work” that is, drawing planes, making calculations, and at times, distracting himself with small mechanic pieces.  
He needed it right now, as he was feeling quite confused with the new situation. It felt somehow refreshing, specially for Edith, who seemed ever more filled with life since her cousing was with them. 

But, could the plan work? Really? Could they really support the house and…?  
He was interrupted by knocking in the door. His sister came throu.  
He never minded it. This was her house as much as his, and there were no secrets between them.

“That whore has brought more”  
“how?”  
“more extrangers! They are coming right now throu the door with tools and… lots of noise”

Thomas run to the window and saw them: several cars filled with men weilding tools and material were stated right in front of the house. And he had been so hypnoticed by his work he hadn’t noticed.

“It is an invasion!” Lucyle shouted. He just went downstairs to get some answers. On the way, he found Edith.

“Thomas!”  
“What is this?” 

They both noticed each other’s nerviosism, and Edith tried to calm the other explaining

“remember Mary wanted to fix the house?”  
“To lift it!”  
“Yes but not that, the rest of it”  
“…what?”  
“I am sorry thomas, I should have consulted you” 

Marie came up to him with an apologetic smile. The man of the house found it easy to listen, and difficult to contradict. She reminded him of Lucyle.

“I would never do any drastic change without your permision. They are here for the ceiling”  
“…the ceiling”  
“Yes, see, winter is coming. It’s going to get cold and we don’t really need much to cover the ceiling. They will just install a canvas to protect the roof, so that the snow won’t fall in here. It is not much, but you will notice the difference”  
“It will not make any difference”

All turned to Lucy, coming down the stairs.  
“That stupid fabric will rot during winter and make things worse”  
“Is not just any fabric. We use things like this to sleep during a northen ice storm. It is rain proof and insulating and…”  
“i don’t care what it is! Get it off my house!”

There was a silence.  
“Temper, temper. Im sorry I didn’t tell you, but I thoug it was not much, and you all were complaining of how cold it is here…”  
“We never wanted your help!”  
“This is Thomas’s house. He is the head of the family and I had been told he was a man the future, with plans. I just wanted to help”

Edith looked between Lucy and Marie looked at Lucy. Lucy stared at Thomas and he stared at nothing.

He was not used to deal with change, nor decisions, and right now he had a moral dilema: he wanted to please his sister, but she didn’t believe in the future like he did.  
Edith had a say in this, but nor her nor Lucy believed it, so Mary took advantage and pushed her.

“Edith, what do you think? You are his wife. I really didn’t mean to impose”

Edith breathed deeply and spoke to the sibilins.

“It was unconsiderate of her not to say anything, but she means good. Bedside, it is a good Idea to keep the house while we decide what to do”

Thomas breathed deeply.  
“There is nothign to decide” Lucy spoke “I want that thing off my roof”  
“Well, I want it on” Edit imposed.“I have just married thomas, and came here to a house without a roof. It is not even going to cost anything becouse Marie is providing it and if I get pregnat, the cold…”

Lucy run upstairs, wishing the whole house would colapse into the mud already. Thomas went after her, and contempled in desolation how she paced across the room muttering of the whore Mary was.

Thomas stood there with her, and, in calming silence, walked up to her, and held her, kissed her head. Said…

“It is only temporary. We need the money”  
“We don’t need a stupid roof!”  
“Forget she brought it. Think it appeared on its own. Think the house never lost its roof like the walls. Don’t think of it”

Lucyled did what she did when she needed to distract herself and feel better: she lifted her face and searched his lips with hers. The toxic kiss, of a toxic relationship, made her feel a bit alive.

The canvas was so simple and easy to install that it was over in a few hours, and all the extrangers went back to the city. Edith and Mary expent the rest of the day cleaning the house and lighting every fireplace in the house, chatting over how much of a positive change it would make.

And quite a change it was. It was dark already when Lucyle and Thomas were surprised in bed: there was an odd scratching at the door, and an odd syluette appeared suddenly, looking at them.

Lucyle groaned. It was Lobo.

“I thoug that thing was dead!”  
Thomas hurried up to put his pants on  
“I want you to get rid of it already!”

Thomas reached for it. The soft, grey husky lowered its head and wined a bit.

“It will be suspicious if we do. Suddenly, at least”  
“I don’t care! I don’t want them in my house”

Thomas wanted to obligue, but… how?

Dropping the animal in the middle of nowere hadn’t worked with the last one, and it was a tiny mut. Now he had to plan a way to get rid of that small dog, the wolfish one, and one that looked like a bear.

“be patient” He insisted to his sister, and with a rope, he took the calm dog downstairs, were Marie and Edith were finishing dinner.

“There you are! Oh, did Lobo bother you?”  
“He managed to get into my studio. I think Lucy would prefer if you kept them outside”  
“Oh, that’s allright, they are used to staying outside. …but this one can’t, not jet, he is still a bit sick”  
“…he seems alright…”  
“He was feeling sick and didn’t want to be alone. Silly furry thing. They know how to open doors, but not of privacy. If he bothers you again, you can kick him out and tell me”

Thomas didn’t inssit. He smiled as a nice man would do, and went to attend his lovely wife a bit.

“That smells delicious”  
“hmh. Marie is teaching me new recipes. Today we have runeverg toastes for dessert”  
“Im sure it will be delightfull, if you made it”

Poor Lucyle came down to a horrible surpirse:  
Dinner was ready. Mary contempled with a smile at the married couple, wispering nothings to each other. Even the room was warm. Warm!

She had to put an end to this.


	3. Invasive spieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy's plans are interfected and her patience starts to definetly run out.  
> Mary is not impressed.

“think of the future”  
“there is no future, this is all we have”  
“we don’t have this! We don’t! we hold onto the past, but it is gone already! The house is in ruins”  
“and we are with it. This is what we are. All that is left. This house, you and me there is nothing else there will not be”  
“It doesn’t have to be like that”  
“yes!”  
“no, we don’t have to do this. It doesn’t have to sink, we don’t have to keep sacrificing anyone…”  
“you care for them? for them? that… invasor and your little Edith is that it?”  
“No”  
“Look at me. Thomas. I am all that you have. I and this house. She is here only for the money and the other cunt is just in the way”

Thomas didn’t answer. He was just so confused

“What about the dogs?”  
“…the dogs?”  
“Yes, I told you to get rid of them, did you do it jet?”  
“…no”  
“why not?”  
“they are outside, they won’t bother you anymore”  
“I don’t want them outside, I want them gone! for good! Dead, Thomas!”  
“Well then you do it!”

Lucy froze. Her brother never snapped at her. It was not a harsh snap, but still, he had never done that.

“I couldn’t even get rid of that… little one and I got them out of the house. If you want them…”

She was already runing down the stairs. She would break the neck of the first mut she could find. It wouldn’t be hard, they were everywere!  
Oddly enough the first one she found was the small one.  
It run the moment it saw her coming.

Lucy followed the sound of its tiny paws franticly scratching the floor down to the dinner room, were it hid behind Lobo, who was lying in front of the fireplace.

Lucy smiled with fury. She would get rid of the two at once!  
They noticed: lobo got up like a resort and backed up agaisn’t the wall with a whine. Behind him, the smaller one barked nerviously.

Lucile extended her hands towards the neck of the big one when Marie’s voice interrupted her.

“Lucille” she flinched and looked at her. Marie was sitting at the couch in front of the fire, reading and sipping from a cup. She hadn’t seen her, but Marie had seen her chasing after the dogs right in front of her.

“I didn’t know you liked dogs as to play chase”

She smiled

“Edith’s little one made a mess in my room. I was going to… teach it a leason”  
“oh. And how would you?”  
“well, a good spanking should do”  
“I differ. I know how to train a dog, spanking is not the way to go”  
“I got spanked constantly as a child. And I did fine”

In fact, she spanked her mother back, with an ax.

Marie put down the cofee and spoke with a smug smile  
“I am sorry you got spanked. It is not the dog’s fault”

Lucyle took a long pause, before leaving for the kitchen.

“I will make you some more tea” but she was, once again, stopped.  
“Don’t bother. I don’t drink tea, but coffee instead”

Lucylle nearly screamed in fury.

“then pray, let me make you more coffee”

And once more, Marie denied her wish.

“I keep it in my room. I don’t want to bother all of you who don’t drink coffee. Bedsides, I like to drink it while I work”  
“Work? You?”  
“yes, in the planes for the house. I think your Brother and I have a lot in comon”

And then, the content rage that had been hiding in her chest started filtrating to the rest of her system. 

“Don’t you dare to say that about Thomas. Stay the fuck away from him!”

Odly enough, Marie didn’t seem intimidated. She was sitting, contemplating her behaibor like it was a misterious play. She had traveled a lot, and seen many things.

“He does not belong to you, for you to speak like that”  
“You…!!”  
“He belongs to Edith”

Lucyle’s fire seemd to be put down by cold air and all that was left was a wasteland of ashes. Before she could react, Marie kept explaining. She pointed to the tiny dog in the corner, hidden behind her husky.

“Like that little dog. You may not like it, but it is not yours: its Edith’s. And you can’t do anything about it. His name is Tiny. He had no name so I named him”

Lucyle smiled cinicaly.   
“You like animals don’t you? Have I showed mine?”  
“Oh. Do you have?”

Marie put down the cofee and followed her host to the elevator, and up to the last floor.   
The doors were damaged and in some points you could see the canbas that had been instaled to cover the holes in the ceiling.   
They were covered in nocturnal buterflys, that flung around and trembled up and down the walls.

“you should have seen it before that horrible thing was installed. The light from outside came throu”  
“Yes, together with rain, snow and bugs”  
“This are not like other bugs. They are colorless and ugly, but strong and resistent. They feed of weak and dead things. Other buterflys, for example. Pretty, weak. Helpless when the weather becomes cold”  
“You are so wrong”  
“what!”

Marie took in the view and breathed calmly

“In first place, all butterflys live very shortly and die when the weather changes. But, for what I know, there are no butterflies that feed of others. as for Edith…”

She looked at Lucile

“you shouldn’t judce a book of the cover. Roses are beautifull too. But they have thorns. And thou they have a hard time they can survive winter. Unlike your butterflyes, wich will all die when the house is reconstructed”  
“The house… no. It won’t be”  
“that is Thomas’s choice. And he likes the plan”  
“stay away from him!”

Marie stood tall and strong.

“Do you want to know what is resistan and eats butterflys? Rats. They live behind the walls, so people don’t notice or care for them. They are so many, and inteligent, and strong. They live in any corner of the world and even with poison they are difficult to kill. And yes. They feed on everything. Dead butterflys, nocturnal ones… and even walls”

Again, Lucille was taken aback and had a hard time responding.

“I suggest you learn from them instead: they are masters of survival” 

Marie left Lucy alone with her doomed moths and went back downstairs, where she threw away her coffee.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know if there is a lot of fandom for this story...  
> but when i saw the movie i had this idea of how the house could be saved and restored...  
> and it is not completly crazy! I saw in TV a bunch of guys who's job is to move houses from one placement to the other...  
> so it could be done!
> 
> Plus, the only thing this needs is a bit of humor and craziness... but that's the fandom's job!! :D


End file.
